Such a plug connector part comprises a housing part, a plug portion, which is arranged on the housing part, for plug-connection to another plug connector part, and a latching element which is arranged in a movable manner on the housing part and has a latching portion for locking to the other plug connector part. The latching element can be moved between a first, locking position for establishing locking between the plug connector part and the other plug connector part, and a second, unlocking position for unlocking the plug connector part from the other plug connector part. A handle for a user to grip the plug connector part is arranged on the housing part. The handle has a handle piece which can be gripped by a user.
Such a plug connector part in the form of a charging plug is known, for example from DE 196 49 707 C2. The charging plug comprises a latching element in the form of a latching lever, which is designed to lock the charging plug to the charging socket in the case of a charging plug that is plugged into a charging socket. To release the locking between the charging plug and the charging socket, the latching lever can be pivoted in order to disengage a latching portion of the latching lever from an associated latching receiver of the charging socket in this manner such that the charging plug can be pulled out of the charging socket.
Other charging plugs having a latching element in the form of a latching lever are known, for example from DE 10 2011 002 024 A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,206,171 B2, 8,573,994 B2 and WO 2013/035 240 A1.
By providing such a latching element, for example in the case of a plug connector part in the form of a charging plug, reliable locking of the plug connector parts can be achieved in a state in which it is plugged into another plug connector part, for example a charging socket, such that the plug connector part cannot easily be removed from the other plug connector part, or not without releasing the locking anyway. As the result of such locking, a charging plug can be secured, for example during a charging procedure. Moreover, the locking can also ensure a secure hold and secure storage of the charging plug outside of a charging procedure in a storage position of the charging plug, in which the charging plug, for example, is plugged into a receiver provided therefor at a charging point or near a charging point.
A charging procedure for charging an electric vehicle lasts a comparatively long time these days, for example up to 8 hours. In such a charging procedure, a plug connector part in the form of a charging plug, for example, is plugged into an associated charging socket of the electric vehicle at a charging point, the charging process frequently being unsupervised for the duration of the charging, in particular in the case of public charging points. In the process, it should be prevented that a charging procedure could be undesirably interrupted by a third party by pulling the charging plug out of the charging socket. It should also be ruled out that an unauthorized third party removes a charging plug from an electric vehicle and connects it to another electric vehicle and in the process, the electricity charges and charging fees are still billed to a first, authorized user.
In order to make unauthorized removal of a charging plug from an electric vehicle impossible, some charging plugs provide the option of attaching a padlock, by means of which the latching element locking the charging plug to the charging socket can be obstructed. If a user attaches a padlock to the charging plug, the locking between the charging plug and the charging socket cannot be released and therefore the charging plug cannot be removed from the charging socket. In order to secure a charging plug by means of a padlock, however, it is always necessary in this case for a user to also carry a padlock with them, which is not always guaranteed and can also be impractical for a user. Moreover, it can occur that such a padlock freezes on a charging plug in cold weather conditions, which can make it harder or even impossible to release the charging plug. Moreover, a padlock requires a drilled hole in the housing in order to be attached, which can lead to leaks in the housing.